Why is Sonos discontinuing support for iOS devices?

Kind of.. Is all your music on your ipad? Where is your music physically stored?

They are NOT ending support for iOS devices.

They are removing a feature - playing from "on this device"

Big difference.

That feature was huge. Yes - all my music is storied on iPad and iPhones. As well have stored music on my iMac but have not been able to get the app for the iMac to work with my Sonos One in the bedroom - not my two Sonos Playbars.

Setting up Sonos to work with your iMac is a one time thing. You set it up, it will then work on all of your speakers.

In fact, here is the FAQ on how to do so.

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/257

Makes life much better, IMHO, and saves on battery power on the iOS device. I used to have it connected to my MacBook Pro, but have subsequently moved it to an NAS.

This is bull.... it's like telling me that the expensive DVD player I bought has now decided it won’t play my dvds, and I have to start streaming all my movies. I have literally several thousands of hours of music on iPhone and iPad. Much of which is not available on streaming services even if I wanted to pay to subscribe to music I already own, and I don’t have an IMac. You sold me a very expensive set of speakers for my music collection, and then decide I can’t use them.

You apparently haven't read the thread that melvimbe linked to, in which there is a free solution offered, amongst others.

This is bull.... it's like telling me that the expensive DVD player I bought has now decided it won’t play my dvds, and I have to start streaming all my movies. I have literally several thousands of hours of music on iPhone and iPad. Much of which is not available on streaming services even if I wanted to pay to subscribe to music I already own, and I don’t have an IMac. You sold me a very expensive set of speakers for my music collection, and then decide I can’t use them.

Nobody is forcing you to purchase a streaming service. You can easily play your library from a PC/Mac, Plex, an NAS, or a free Google Play Music account. And if Sonos were really trying to force you to pay for a streaming service instead of being on the bad side of an Apple iOS update, it would be highly ironic because A. They don't make any income from services, and B. They kept the ability to play tracks on Android devices.

This is bull.... it's like telling me that the expensive DVD player I bought has now decided it won’t play my dvds, and I have to start streaming all my movies. I have literally several thousands of hours of music on iPhone and iPad. Much of which is not available on streaming services even if I wanted to pay to subscribe to music I already own, and I don’t have an IMac. You sold me a very expensive set of speakers for my music collection, and then decide I can’t use them.

I don’t think that’s a very accurate analogy.

But anyway: Have you read any of the other threads on this topic? So many solutions available: a Google Play Music account, an Android device, or an NAS device for example.

I have read all the threads. But the fact that there are all sorts of baroque workarounds, such as uploading to the cloud my entire music collection, which consists of literally a couple of thousand CDs that I ripped to iTunes and then donated (many of which are no longer available, including my father's huge jazz collection), as well as hundreds of hours of unreleased material from my music career, or relying on streaming services that dont have most of what I own, or buying a desktop Mac and then being only able to play music from my office, or buying an Android device or a NAS device, or anything else, doesn't change the fact that I bought several sets of pricey speakers to play the music on my iPad and iPhone, and now those speakers have announced they won't do the one thing I bought them for.

If you gave away the CDs, does that leave you in breach of copyright if you are still playing the music? I’m not sure what the laws are in your country but it may be worth checking!

But, if you have music ripped onto iTunes, surely that means they are stored on a computer disc and can therefore be played - ie controlled and accessed - from the app on your iPhone.

Good grief people!!!

Housing your music collection on a PC or Mac DOES NOT MEAN YOU CAN ONLY PLAY MUSIC USING THE PC OR MAC!!!!

Good grief people!!!

Housing your music collection on a PC or Mac DOES NOT MEAN YOU CAN ONLY PLAY MUSIC USING THE PC OR MAC!!!!

Are you saying you can set up a “Music Library” and select music from an app on your iPhone? Wow! That would be useful! 😀

Are you saying you can set up a “Music Library” and select music from an app on your iPhone? Wow! That would be useful! 😀


Why yes. And it works so well, it's almost as if that was the original design.

Each new Sonos update strikes fear of losing support. Their products are very expensive, and when they limit or prohibit use through updates is sickening. When they work properly they are about the best on the market.
But, people should be aware that, one day, the large investment they made in Sonos products may become a total waste of money.

Each new Sonos update strikes fear of losing support. Their products are very expensive, and when they limit or prohibit use through updates is sickening. When they work properly they are about the best on the market.
But, people should be aware that, one day, the large investment they made in Sonos products may become a total waste of money.


A little bit of hyperbole there. At last count, over 93% of all Sonos usage is from internet sources. Of the ~7% of local library usage, certainly a small fraction is from the device itself, considering Sonos was originally designed for music libraries stored on a PC/Mac or NAS. So no, for the vast majority of users, elimination of this one function does not render their Sonos a "total waste of money", and for the users who do use this function, there are several options that give the same functionality with none of the hassles seen for the last year.

You could switch to Bose: Surely they wouldn’t drop a whole hardware range to introduce some new features 😜

Each new Sonos update strikes fear of losing support. Their products are very expensive, and when they limit or prohibit use through updates is sickening. When they work properly they are about the best on the market.
But, people should be aware that, one day, the large investment they made in Sonos products may become a total waste of money.
Perhaps change your community profile Avatar... I thought this perhaps might be a little more suitable for you:

Each new Sonos update strikes fear of losing support. Their products are very expensive, and when they limit or prohibit use through updates is sickening. When they work properly they are about the best on the market.
But, people should be aware that, one day, the large investment they made in Sonos products may become a total waste of money.


I think this depends on your point of view. If you're the type of person who doesn't want things to change, then Sonos might not be the best solution for you. If you want to be able to adopt and change as newer tech is available, then Sonos can be a very great option.

As @nik9669a pointed out, when new features became popular and available, competitors like Bose opted to shut down their current line of smart speakers and start a new one. That would have made people who don't want the new features happy as it would preserve there speakers longer....until Bose drops support anyway and it no longer works with the current smart phones. It made many customers upset since they now saw their current investment as outdated and useless.

On the other hand Sonos has gone from a closed system that didn't even have smart phone apps, to incorporating apps, streaming services, voice control, TV audio, etc, while dropping very little products and features from the line. While this surely has bothered those who wanted nothing to change, it's a huge blessing for those who want the more current features without having to buy everything new.

For me personally, I almost always want the new features, and am glad that i can still use the connect:amp I bought about 8 years ago along with speakers I bought last Christmas. Absolutely money well spent.

I bought these speakers to play music off my ipad and phone .
also because it was controlled by my ipad and phone .

I thought this equipment was awesome when I first got it .
And My job is working as a Musician and sound Tech .
I work with digital equipment almost everyday .

My opinion is that every time there is an upgrade things get worse instead of better .
There should be an option that lets you decide whether you want to upgrade or not and
it should be explained what you would gain and what you would lose by upgrading.
In other words you should have a choice .

I'm going to work around this by putting a wireless Mirroring dongle on my TV.
This will enable me to use my speakers as I wanted to in the first place .
But I will still have to purchase new phones in the future just to turn the ---- system on .
Need a new computer as well and will be taking a hard look at other options besides apple
for phones pads and computers .

But it is kind of funny that my old series 1 Ipad will still operate pretty much all the digital mixing consoles out there .
Yet I can't operate my home speaker system with it .

I have other rants on here as well .
Normally I hate typing or posting on anything but this really bothers me.

There should be an option that lets you decide whether you want to upgrade or not and
it should be explained what you would gain .


Can’t you just turn Off Automatic Updates?

Mine is turned off if you don't update you can't access any of your controls
like room settings etc .
But I think you would know that as you seem to be on here everyday .

Do you work for sonos ?😉


I think the point is a lot of people bought this equipment to play there music on their
iphones and ipads .
This feature is what attracted them to the product in the first place .
Now one way or another they are going to have to spend more money to do so .



I think if people want stuff like Alexa and all that other robot crap maybe they should pay extra
that would be there choice .
Now watch the feathers fly .
I've said my piece it's my opinion I'm not going to argue with anyone .
So save your breath .
Sonos is going to do whatever they want they already have our money .
Don't know why I wasted this much of my time .
Peace out

Mine is turned off if you don't update you can't access any of your controls
like room settings etc .
But I think you would know that as you seem to be on here everyday .

Do you work for sonos ?😉






Not true. Controls are lost when the speakers are updated and the controller isn't or vice-versa. You need to ensure your mobile device doesn't automatically update as well - that isn't a Sonos setting as I'm sure you know.

Also. The childish "Do you work for Sonos"? No, he doesn't. Sonos employees are indicated as such under their name. Just because somebody challenge;enges your post doesn't mean they are a paid shill.

Do you work for sonos ?😉




Now one way or another they are going to have to spend more money to do so .



No, I don’t work for Sonos. When I was adding to my original set of speakers I had a lot of problems (suprise:Wi-fi!) and people on this community forum gave me a lot of helpful advice. Where I can, I’m now repaying that service.

For example, I’ll correct statements that I think are wrong.

There are are several options that have been put forward here and on other threads INCLUDING NO-COST solutions for those prepared to make small changes to the way they play their music.

But you don’t want to know so I’ll say no more.

Bye.